Pentecost Sunday
(Sunday 15th May 2016)
Let the Holy Spirit set your hearts on fire – (John 14:15-16, 23-26)
This coming Sunday is Pentecost Sunday: the day when the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary and the Apostles gathered together in prayer. This event completely changes the lives of the Apostles from thereon as the relationship between them and God is raised to a completely different level.
Until then, their interaction with Jesus had been presumably mostly on the natural level. Jesus was with them all the time, they talked to Him, saw Him walking around, even witnessed the miracles He worked. But as we have heard and read so often, this relationship didn’t give them the inner conviction and strength to fully understand and persevere in following Jesus. Something else is needed, something that Jesus promised them over and over again; this is the Helper or the Holy Spirit.
The coming of the Holy Spirit is the definitive turning point in this relationship. The Holy Spirit has come and transformed the disciples from being afraid and locked up in a room into the preachers which stand up boldly and address the crowds telling them that Jesus has risen! From being afraid they suddenly show a courage that is exceptional.
With the coming of the Spirit there is a fundamental change in our relationship with God. Now we have God’s love dwelling in us directly, God has come to us in a completely new way, in a supernatural way. And even though it is sometimes hard to explain how this exactly works, we can easily see the effects in the Disciples. They suddenly seem to have an inner strength and conviction which didn’t seem to be there before. Moreover, this conviction remained with them and we know that all but one of the Apostles, and many Christians besides, gave their live for this new reality of which they had become part.
Once we engage with God on this level it changes our lives, and it becomes a perpetual living force in everything we do and experience. It is allowing God’s grace to work in us and transform us. All baptised Catholics have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit in baptism and, especially in Confirmation, we have been given this strength to go out and proclaim our faith. Sometimes however it seems that we need to (re)engage again with God and allow ourselves to be energised by the Holy Spirit. To be touched by this love, to open our hearts to this fire and be moved to share this love with others. The joy which it is to know Jesus is something which should set out hearts on fire. It puts our heart on fire to share with others who might not have experience this as yet.
This week between Ascension and Pentecost is a time to pray especially for the renewing of the gift of the Holy Spirit. To have the grace to fully open our hearts to God’s gifts and be rekindled. To have that fire run in our veins and have the grace to be able to stand up for our faith; to have the joy, courage and conviction that the apostles had after their own Pentecost!
Fr. Luuk Jansen O.P.